Chief Constable of Ayr - Help needed!

[JLo]

I wonder if anyone can help me at all. I am looking for information on Angus Gunn the Head/Chief Constable of Ayr from 1814-1827. I think he married Janet Kerr in 1815 and had 4 children. I have got some information about his work life including information about the hanging at Symington Toll, but I am struggling to find anything about when and where he was born and what happened to him after he retired (due to injury at an incident in Mauchline). Can anyone help? I have seen some unconfirmed information on Ancestry (about both Angus and Janet) but am not convinced it's right.

[CaroleW]

Did he retire in 1827?  When & where did he die as there is no death in Ayrshire

Where does he fit into your FH?

Names & birthyears of the 4 children you mention?

[RJ_Paton]

There is some information about him at

http://www.ayrshirehistory.org.uk/CommSup/commsup.htm#Note%2011

In about 1814, Ayrshire became the first county in Scotland to have a paid head constable when the commissioners appointed Angus Gunn, an enterprising and active young man at a salary of £80 a year. Note 11 When the highway robber John Worthington was returned to the county for execution on 17th February 1815, he was placed into the charge of Gunn at Flockside on the county line for the remainder of his journey to the scaffold at Symington toll-bar. Note 12  By 1823, Gunn's salary had risen to £106. Some time between May 1826 and April 1827 Gunn was assaulted in Mauchline, following which he resigned his position due to ill health. Out of concern for the helpless situation of Mr Gunn and his young family, he was awarded an aliment of 15s. a week or £39 a year, reduced in 1832 to 10s. a week.
 

[GR2]

ScotlandsPeople has a record of the marriage of Angus Gunn and Janet Kerr at Ayr on 26-8-1815 (could be the date of the contract rather than the marriage itself - you have to look at the original).

It has records of the baptisms of the following children at Ayr:

Jane Wilson Gunn 27-2-1818
George Gunn 25-7-1820
Mary Gunn 6-6-1823

It also has a burial record at Ayr for Janet Kerr or Gunn on 20-10-1825, aged 36.

There is also the baptism of Elizabeth Gunn at Muirkirk on 2-10-1814 to Angus Gunn and Margaret Morton. Worth looking at too in case from an earlier marriage or an illegitimate child.

[RJ_Paton]

There is a claim on Ancestry that Angus Gunn who was married to Janet Kerr was born in Halkirk, Caithness around 1790.

On SP in the Church of Scotland Parish registers there is an Angus Gunn baptised in Halkirk on 07/12/1790
parents : GEORGE GUNN/MARGT. GUNN
ReferenceFR301 (FR301) 037/ 10 276

Unfortunately nothing is ever that simple  as there is another Angus Gunn born in Halkirk in 1791
baptism : 25/09/1791
parents : WM. GUNN/MARGARET GUNN
reference : 037/  10 128

[RJ_Paton]

Burial record for Janet Kerr (from transcription of OPR's)

Janet GUNN, {a.k.a. KERR:}, Buried 20-Oct-1825; Age 36, Wife of Angus Gunn.
Additional information :- Cause of death given - Fever;
Other details - husb Chief Constable

[JLo]

Thank you for looking into this. I feel like I am circling him but can't quite find anything definite to pin him down. I have found lots of snippets of cases he was involved in. He was known as 'the thief catcher'!

The burial of Janet was new information so that was definitely very useful and definitely ties them together.
I had seen the possibilities on Ancestry for his baptism/birth. Halkirk is a long way from Ayr so I was very unsure about it.
Unfortunately I cannot find a death record for him at all. You would have thought the chief constable would have had a decent funeral!

The other child I think I have is Elizabeth bc 1817. She married William Gibb in 1835. They have her sister Mary with them in the 1851 census.

There is also a mysterious 'cousin' Christina Drennan/Drinnan bc 1816 d Dec 1889 who keeps appearing and is buried with Mary Mitchell (nee Gunn) & Jane Wilson Gunn.

[RJ_Paton]

You would have thought the chief constable would have had a decent funeral!

Pre civil registration some of the Ayrshire parishes are amongst the worst for keeping any records regarding burials or deaths. (e.g. St Quivox has no know death or burial records before 1855). It is also possible that he moved away from Ayrshire before his death although he was certainly being paid a pension by them until at least 1832.

Re the Chief Constable references - don't confuse this with the head of a larger organisation which came into being with Burgh & County Police Forces. Although designated as the "Head Constable" by the County Commissioners and as "Chief Constable" in the OPR's it is unlikely that there would have been many other constables perhaps as few as 2 or 3

[MonicaL]

The surname Drennan also seems to pop up as a middle name for one of son George's children? A daughter is showing as a Jane Drennan Gunn born in Blackburn, England in 1854? www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/george-gunn-24-21sz7zn

If connected, it could also be from the Kerr side of the family.

Monica